Improvement in forming cartridge-cases



UNITED STATES ifnnis'rmx sn aars, or PHILADELPHIA;PENNSYLVANIA.-

IMPROVEMENT IN FORMING CARTRIDGE-CASES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 30,647, dated November13, 1860.

To @ZZ whom it 71mg eolico/'11,;

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN SHA1-ars, of the city and county ofPhiladelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new andImproved Mode of Forming Metallic Cases for Cartridges; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to theletters of reference marked thereon. A My invention relates to a mode ofimpartingthe desired taper to the cases of metallic cartridges andlforming the enlargement on the same for the reception of the detonatingmaterial; and my invention consists in placing hollow metal cylinders,closed at one end, in chambers ot' the desired form, an'd expanding thesaid cylinders within the chambers by means of plunger-s through themedium of water or other suitable iluid, as fully described hereinafter.

In order to enable others to practice my invention, I will now proceedto describe the manner in which the same may be carried into effect.

On reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of thisspecification, Figures 1 andi. are sectional views illustrating myapparatus for forming metallic cases for cartridges; Figs. 3 and 4,views of the case before and after it has been .submitted to the formingappara-tus.

An upper die A and lower die li, of steel, are fitted snugly together,and are maintained in a proper relative position by any suitable numberel steai`ly-pins a. lhe upper die has a circular opening increasing-slightly in diameter from the top downward, as seen in liig. l, and atthe bottom of this opening is formed an 'enlarged recess er chamber ir,corresponding in shape to that ot the enlargement to be produced ou theend of the cartridge, one portion ot' this chamber being formed in theuplnn' and the other in the lower die.

In forming metallic cases for cartridges a disk of metal is forcedrepeatedly through orifices in steel dies by means ot punches orplungerS--a process well 4known and commonly employed in making metalliccapsules boxes, lids for the same, and a variety ot' other objects. cessconverted to a hollow cylinder with parallel sides and one end closed,as represented -in Fig. 3, and from this condition it has to beconverted to that shown in Fig. 4, the cyl-v inder having a slightincrease in diameter fromthe upper end downward, (for thepurpose offacilitating the withdrawal of the spent cartridge from the breech ofthe rearm,) andan enlargement at the base for the reception of thedetonating material.

The apparatus above described is; for the purpose of converting thecylinder from the form shown in Fig. 3 to that represented in Fig. 4 bythe following process: The lower die B, with the upper die attached, isplaced on. a solid foundation, after which the crude cylinder, Fig.3,'is dropped into the opening of the upper die, the end of the cylinderresting on that portion of the lower die which forms the bottoni of thechamber ou. After the cylinder is nearly filled with water or othersuitable fluid a ram or plunger C, furnished at. its lower end with awasher d, of leather or other suitable material, is inserted into themoutli of the cylinder, after'which the plunger is sumitted ,to a smartVblow or any available pressure, the effect of which will be to expandthe cylinder in every direction, causing it to assume' the tapering formof the opening in the upper die anddriving it into corners of thechamber The plunger is now withdrawn, the upper die removed frein thelower die, and ,the `water poured out of the cylinder, after which thelat-ter (new formed into the desired case, Fin. at) is forced fromthcupper die by any suitable instrument, to be subsequentlyfurnished withthe detonating material.

Although in the above-described apparatus but one case can be formed atone operation, it will be` evident that two extended plates, placed oneabove the other and containing a number of chambers for receiving thecrude cases, may be used, while a third plate having a series ofplungers C, similar in number to' and coinciding with the cham- Themetal disk is by this pro-k bers, may be used in connection with thesaid plates, so that any desired number of netallic cases'may be made atone operation. Lclaim as my invention and desire tol se eure by LettersPatent- Forming cases for metallic cartridges by placing a hollowcylinder in chambers of the desired form and expanding the said cylinders within the chambers by means of plun- CHARLES E. FOSTER.y

